#rmTruth BLOG

As a full-time self-employed person, I'm sure you feel lucky just to earn a living without punching someone's clock everyday. That's an accomplishment most entrepreneurs are still striving for. However scrappy your hustle, you're actually getting by with it; and you don't want to do anything that will upset the delicate balance of your financial success.

I get it.

Buuut… you and I both know that “getting by” isn't enough for you. You know you could be working smarter. Earning better. Living more.

And deep down you have this sinking feeling it will all come crashing down if you can't create that reality for yourself—soon.

If you want to remain one of the lucky ones, and stay in business, you need to focus on establishing the distinctive value of your skills and expertise.

Distinctive value is what you do exceptionally well, which sets you apart from anyone else in your line of work. Knowing this is the key to telling the right story of what you do, so you can bring in the kind of clients and money you need to build the business you really want.

When your distinctive value is unclear, here's what happens:

1. ​You under-sell what you really do

You don’t communicate the benefits of all that you bring to the table, so clients can't see how it differs from what anyone else in your field is offering. As a result, they don't understand why they should pay you more than what someone else is charging for the same service.

2. ​You attract clients who overlook your expertise

​Despite explaining the full scope of what you know and can do, clients still have a limited understanding of what you're capable of. So when they need a solution to a new problem, they don't come to you. Instead, they shell out thousands of dollars to a complete stranger who gives the exact same advice that you would and but doesn’t offer the same level of support as you.

3. ​You get stuck at an earning plateau

​You’ll figure out adjustments you can make, so you can work smarter and earn better—all of which require you to charge more for your services. But since you struggle to justify your current rates, you won't feel confident about asking for more. Instead, you either chicken out and stay stuck or lose out on profit to cover the adjustments.

4. ​You eventually fizzle out

​Under-earning, feeling undervalued and being underestimated by your clients takes a toll. At some point your motivation will crash like your sugar levels at 3PM, and you won’t have the enthusiasm to do any work at all. Next thing you know, you’ll fire all your clients and join a monastery just to recover from the burnout.

​Uncover your value, tell the right story

To establish your distinctive value, and start telling the right story of what you do, you have to connect the dots between what you bring to the table and what your clients will invest in.

Start by identifying these key things:

What your clients ultimately want to accomplish and why they can't do it on their own

What your process is to help them accomplish what they want

What the experience of working with you is like

Once you nail that part down, you can begin positioning yourself as the indispensable expert you want to be—focusing on doing your best work and attracting clients who need and fully appreciate what you have to offer.

​What are you waiting for?

​Many times we're too close to our own genius to recognize its full potential. Let's get to the bottom of what makes your work distinctive and brainstorm ways you can package that into a business that doesn't merely “get by”, but thrives.